


The Insertion

by Upstarsfromreality



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Story: The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26801680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Upstarsfromreality/pseuds/Upstarsfromreality
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The Insertion

I have long made it a habit to deplore the degree to which my friend, Dr. Watson, emphasizes sentiment in his accounts of our cases. But I can recall only one case where he has actually inserted a sentiment that did not exist. I refer to the matter which he has published as "The Norwood Builder."

I did, as Watson described, start my investigation at Blackheath rather than Norwood. However, it was to MacFarlane's office that I went, not to his home. I interviewed his clerk, not his parents. I confirmed the circumstances of the clerk witnessing the will and made certain that Oldacre was not previously known at the office. I may well have come home as depressed as Watson described me, for there was nothing to suggest anything other than a simple crime of greed. In this I was ultimately proved correct, although the crime was not committed by my client. Oldacre's scheme to outwit his creditors and escape with his fortune proved to be his undoing. 

Therefore, I was quite shocked, some months later, to discover that Watson had inserted a cruel streak that did not exist into Oldacre's character. The proofs for the story contained an interview with MacFarlane's mother that had never happened. The incidents with the photograph and the cat in the aviary were Watson's invention. 

With some trepidation, I stepped up to Watson's room, for he had already retired when I read the wretched thing. "My dear Watson," I asked, holding the proof out to him, "is this really how you feel about people who fake their deaths? That we are unnecessarily and intentionally cruel?"

Watson sighed and looked at me with tired eyes. "Only on my worst days, Holmes. It must have been a bad one when I wrote that. Most days I can see the difference between what you did out of necessity and what Oldacre did out of greed. But when the pain is bad enough, I remember what it was like to blunder through two griefs that should have only been one. I can still take that section out, if it hurts you."

"Leave it in, dear fellow," I replied. "I have no right to your forgiveness, but I will feel better if Oldacre, whose name you changed anyway, is the one to bear the brunt of your anger."

"My anger is melting, my dear Holmes," said Watson, "but by all means let's let the villains take what remains of it."

And so it was written, and so was it done.


End file.
